Rebel snub threatens Darfur talks

UN-African Union talks aimed at ending the four-year war in Sudan's Darfur region are due to open in Libya later on Saturday.

But two of Darfur's main rebel groups have decided to boycott the talks in a row over invited factions, despite UN Security Council sanction threats.

The absence of key rebel groups could mean the talks may have to be delayed, says the BBC's Amber Henshaw in Darfur.

Some 200,000 people have died and about 2m have been displaced in the conflict.

The mediation has fallen in the trap prepared by the government by making the negotiations an arena for every Jack, Tom and Harry Mohammed Bahr Hamdeen Jem

A 2006 Darfur peace deal faltered because it was signed by the Sudanese government and only one rebel group.

SLA-Unity and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) decided not to attend after the UN and the AU - who are mediating the talks - invited other rebel groups they claim have little support, said Mohammed Bahr Hamdeen, a senior Jem leader.

"The mediation has fallen in the trap prepared by the government by making the negotiations an arena for every Jack, Tom and Harry," Mr Hamdeen said.

Camp protest

The talks will be hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the city of Sirte, but correspondents say the official mediator is likely to be Finnish politician Pekka Haavisto, the EU's special representative to Sudan in 2005.

When the conflict broke out in 2003, SLA and Jem were the only two rebel movements. Now, there are at least 12.

Demonstrators protested against the talks in Abu Shouk, one of many refugee camps in Darfur, on Friday.

Many people in the camps are strongly opposed to the talks and doubt that the negotiations will lead to any concrete improvements on the ground, our correspondent says.